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Independent Creatives, Find Your Better Half

There Are Good Resources Available for Hooking Up

Creative teams are like relationships â€“ some are based on friendship, some on respect and some on pure interest. It takes hard work to make the team work, and every once in a while, one or the other has to give up her own beliefs and follow the other's lead.

Some months ago I wanted to team up with an international art director with whom I could exchange cultural experiences and do some extra work for the portfolio. So I set out to find my creative half.

When it comes to finding a creative partner, the chemistry is crucialâ€”whether you are looking for an art director to collaborate on a shared portfolio after you just finished school or a copywriter to replace the one who just resigned. So where do you start looking?

If you just finished a creative school it's probably a good idea to look to your school's alumni. People who have finished at the same time with you probably have the same interests, plus you've already met during school years.

Of course your first resort when you look for someone new might be LinkedIn. At least this was for me. I started discussion topics about my search for an art director on schools' alumni groups, advertising groups and wherever else I thought I could find the right one. But when you're looking for a creative partner, be sure to be picky.

Up until recently there were no real niche professional networks for creative people. There was no one place where creative people could virtually meet, talk and exchange portfolios. Finally, some have realized that portfolio websites are no more than complex databases, and creative people actually need a real social network where they can meet, get to know each other and team up when the time is right.

After a few months I found about FindYourYang a website powered by Ursa that supports independent creatives in Australia. I thought that the idea of offering creative people from one country a platform where they can get together and share thoughts and portfolios, for the sake of teaming up, is great. It's a new step in social networking that others have delayed doing, it's low budget and highly effective. The idea should be expanded for all continents and localized to each country.

I immediately joined the network considering some creative people may actually consider relocation. After all, the more people you know, the greater your chances of finding the right one.

Recently though, YoungGuns International has also developed a social-networking section where creatives from all over the world can share their portfolios and make new connections. So if you are looking for your creative half maybe you should start from there. Most of the people joining the network are interested in the competition, and whoever is a YoungGun is probably worth giving a chance to. You can look for them based on location; you can share interests and exchange portfolios.

If you are a creative single looking for a better half, don't give up. Everybody's got one.